How to Get Rid of Ants Naturally: All Types Of Ants

During monsoon or summer season, you have perhaps observed a long queue of ants on the floor of your rooms. These small bugs access your house mainly from the adjacent backyard or from surrounding areas. As per a research, these insects always stay in their colonies, and each colony includes several ants of various species. The most irritating fact about the ants is that they get different food items in your kitchen and often bite you with their stings. Sometimes, small plants are also affected with these ants. Before discussing the ways to get rid of ants naturally, it is better to know why these pests prefer entering your home.

Do You Kknow Why Ants Like to Dwell Inside a Building?

There’re several reasons for which ants and bugs access your house. However, the most common point is that they like to look for their everyday foods. Just as other creatures, these insects need something for the purpose of survival. Their intention is not to disturb you or damage your property. Rather, they want to have some foods in order to maintain their existence. However, as they are the main factors behind your distress, you need to take steps for avoiding their colonization.

Facts About The Recognition of Ants

Though ant and pest control seems to be tricky, there’re few facts that you have to understand regarding the behavior of ants.

Entry paths: Lots of ants may get into your rooms through small cracks in order to get sweet, water or some other greasy foodstuff in storeroom and cooking space.

Course of scent: Ants put down some hidden chemical path that consists of pheromones, which are to be followed by other ants to get foods.

Size of colonies: There may be almost 500,000 ants in a colony. Whenever these ants feel the threats, they start to get relocated very fast.

Site of the nest: The ants build their nests almost at any place of a structure, including the walls, base and lawns.

Life span of colony members: Their lifespan is much long. Worker members may survive for almost 7 years, while queens are for more than ten years.

Thus, these major facts may be helpful to you to choose the right method for a control over ants. With a variety of treatments, all ants may be wiped out of the property.

Make a Solution on Your Own to Remove Ants

It is quite difficult to stop the invasion of ants completely. Many people use pesticides, containing chemicals, which are detrimental not only to homeowners but also to environment. While ants have found a suitable site inside a building, they may not want to move away easily. The good news for you is that home remedies for ants are often effective to solve the problem.

1. Cinnamon: A Strong Ingredient to Repent Ants

Cinnamon seems to be a preferable option to act as a natural ant repellent. As cinnamon is available in most of the households, you may try to kill the small ants with this substance. Its intense smell puts the creatures off your room. To get its insecticidal effects, you may take cinnamon oil (half teaspoon) and water (one cup). With a cotton ball, soaked in this solution, you have to rub the spots, which are favorable for the presence of ants. Repeat this process every day until you are sure that there is no trace of ants. Besides, you may apply cinnamon in grinded form and blend cloves with it.

2. Lemon Juice: Helps to Resist Ants

If you want to allow your rooms to be ant-resistant, then you may use lemon because its smell and acidic nature can help in deterring ants. On the windowsills, doorsteps, cabinets and many other places, apply a little amount of this sap. Besides, it is also better to spread out lemon rind in small sizes all over the outdoor areas.

3. Borax: Toxic yet Good Option to Kill Ants

This is one of the substances, which may be venomous to all the ants. You can use it not only inside your room but also in your garden. While the ants have ingested these chemicals, they are instantly exterminated. You may blend some sugar with borax, and pour some water into it to create syrup. This solution is highly attractive to these small creatures. However, when you want to kill ants with borax, you have to avoid the contact of kids and pets with this toxic component. This simple prevention may allow you to safely eradicate all the ants.

4. Peppermint: A Natural Ant Killer

It’s also an easily available bug repellent option, which may help you to stay away from ant-related problem. Ants feel disgusted, while there is extreme smell. Peppermint also interrupts the smelling abilities of ants in order that they may not be able to identify the source of food. Add some water to peppermint oil (ten drops) and then start spraying it throughout the areas, which are most preferred by ants. You can also cultivate peppermint in the garden to get it, whenever needed.

5. Use Vinegar to Expel Ants

It is especially white vinegar that helps you to evict all the distressing ants in your room or other parts of your property. They may not like to tolerate its caustic smell. To get the result, you have to only mix equal amount of water and vinegar and then, transfer it to a bottle for spraying. Add any kind of essential oil. On the worktops, floors and all other sites, this solution may show its effect to avert the invasion of insects, like ants.

Though the treatments through natural solution or commercial traps are good to remove the ants, it is better to follow some steps

Find Out the Reasons That are Causing the Problem of Infestation

Detect the exact source, which is leading to the problems of fleas. Sometimes, your pets become the main source from which infestation is started. Pets unintentionally stroke against different surfaces, which are infected with ants. Thus, the termites are spread to other areas.

1. Getting Your Pets Disinfected

Buy anti-flea solution, which is made only for your specific pet. Rinse the body of your pet with hot water. Then, use the chosen shampoo on fleece. You may better allow this shampoo to remain on the fleece for some minutes so that the substance can be settled. Slowly scrape its coat by means of a brush for removing the eggs and dead ticks.

2. Sanitize Different Rooms of a Building

Vacuuming your carpet and furniture is one of the ways to remove all germs. Do not wait until you observe egg or termites in furnishings. Ants are so small that they may not be seen easily by our eyes. Besides, they often hide in the fibers of rugs and equipment. Prevent all the potentials of infestation in future by cleaning all your household items.

3. Wash Beddings and Linens

Cleanse all your outfits, which are perhaps contaminated with ants. It means that you have to wash your curtains and regular clothes. Heat up some water while washing. Then, leave these things under sunrays until they are dried. It will assist you to make sure that ants have been removed.

4. Let Ants Be Starved Out

Besides vacuuming your property and wiping the surfaces, there is another way to keep ants away. Proper storage of food is highly essential. Ants always want to look out for cookies and other sweet foods, no matter whether you have kept them inside tightly closed bags. You have to keep in mind that most of the packages of manufacturers are not designed to hold out the invasions of ants.

That is why you may better buy an airtight box from any store. Its lids must be placed tightly so that no scavenger ant can find a path to enter it. Moreover, you need to clean the outer portion of food containers because sometimes you see that a jelly-like substance or small particles are on the surface of these boxes. These residues are enough for ants to get attracted. Thus, keep the foods inside re-sealable bags and refrigerators.

Be Aware of Ant Species Before Choosing The Method to Kill Them

It is important to know what ant species are present in your room. While you are able to identify your rivals, you may also be successful in finding out their source. Besides, you can also try to know the specific foods, which are highly responsible for the existence of ants. It enables you to make out the right methods for managing the ant problems.

To inform about black ants, we have to say that they always exist in colony, which remains mainly in outdoor area. They usually enter a building to hunt for bits of food, like meat or sugar. You may prevent their infestation simply by resisting their colony. After that, block every point, from where the ants are entering the indoor areas.

Carpenter ants are also another species, which need more effective treatment, and so, it is quite tough to manage them. The most preferable sites to these ants are wet woods. Thus, they may damage your wooden items. As damp woods are observed in the damaged spots on foundations or other areas, it may lead to a serious issue. In both outdoor and indoor areas, these ants are traced out, and it is better to hire professionals to evade these insects.

Flying ants may be considered as the cause of problems in most of the households. They are usually fertile bugs, and their main intention is reproduction to begin a colony. However, every ant does not possess wings to fly. Though the winged ants only are able to fly, it may differ among a variety of species. Some people want to know whether the winged ones are the queen ants. In fact, at the initial phases of life, these queens include wings. But, while they get their mates successfully, they discard the wings.

You can see flying ant mostly on summer days, while humidity, wind and temperature seem to be perfect. They have wings at the rear and front side; however, the back wings with slight brownish color are comparatively shorter.

To stay away from flying ant, you have to seal all the crevices and cracks that are present in the surrounding areas of a building. It helps in reducing the entrance of these ants. Besides, shut down all the doors and windows in order to avoid these small creatures. Another thing that you may do is to install a screen on your window to get a protection against these insects.

Another concerning species of ants is fire ant, which may hit other creatures, which come upon the nests. Apart from attacking animals and people, they may also damage the buildings, plants, AC, and wires. However, the main reason behind it isn’t yet comprehensible. Moreover, these ants also attempt to get places in electric junction box. Overall time, which is needed by a young ant to become an adult one, is almost a month. Worker ants may survive for about one hundred and eighty days, while the females live for three to five years.

You may make use of baits to remove these fire ants. But, never place these baits in outdoor areas, when it is raining heavily. Many of these baits are granulated, and you have to keep them in dry condition.

You can also choose insecticides, which are available in liquid form. With this liquid substance, you may easily kill the queen or female ants. A very effective option is to make use of one rod in order to create vertical channel on the ants’ mound. With some substance, you may create fumes, which are much potent to destroy the ants. You may also drench the heap or mounds of ants to have complete extermination.

Ant Spray: Do They Work Well?

There’re some chemicals, found in stores. However, you have to remember that while these products are not used according to instructions, it can be quite harmful to you. But, it is also to be noted that many of these products do not solve the problem of ants completely. Sprays may kill only the visible ants, although there may not be any lasting result with these products. The ants can still try to find some space to have entry to your room. In addition, it is not possible to access some of the ant colonies with no special tool.

Colonies Present After Treating Ants: Why?

One possible reason behind it is improper treatment. However, another thing to be considered by you is the survival of female ants. The problems with ants have not been started at home. Rather, the source is only the specific nest of ants. Thus, you need to identify the issue, while these ants invade any of your rooms. Queen ants have the only power to increase the population of other ants. Thus, if they are not treated, there will be more intricate issues of ants. In other words, with more reproduction, there will be longer colonies of ants, and these colonies may comprise different other queens, drones and soldiers.

Use Commercial Tools to Trap All The Ants

Most of the homeowners try to remove ants for several months. That is why it’s best to think of some innovative and stronger options to get relief from these problems. But, it does not mean that you have to use an extremely poisonous substance because this treatment may harm other pets, present in your house. The best ant killer that is recommendable by an expert is an ant trap, which is equipped with a variety of baits. As there are differences among these tools, you may know more about the units, way of application, longevity of outcomes and also effectiveness.

How Safely You Have to Use Commercial Traps

Your ant traps need to be safe and riskless to the feline animals and all other creatures. So, it is better to choose such traps, which are outfitted with some type of baits. These baits may destroy not just the ant species but the cockroaches and other termites also. In order to allow these traps function in a perfect way, you have to clean the food storage area completely clean. While the ants cannot find any food particles in the adjacent zones, they may start focusing on your baits. The main thing, which you have to ensure, is that ants have eaten your bait. In fact, traps seem to work better, in contrast to the sprays because after spraying some bugs are killed before reaching the substance to nest. So, queen ones may not consume it. However, the fastness of the results from bait depends mainly on some factors, such as, pesticide added to it, taste of bait and available foods in the area. To stay safe, you may wash hands using soap and water to remove all the traces of pesticide from skin.

The Process in Which The Traps Do Their Work

Although the traps appear to be effective in nature, they work little slower, in compared to sprays. Baits do not challenge other foodstuffs, and they force ants or termites to eat them. While we consider baits, we know that there’re four major elements:

Attractant: It is generally a kind of food, which allows a bait to be acceptable so that the ants may pick it up readily.

Toxicant: This is not a repellent; however, its dosage must be very high.

Edible carrier: This may be considered as a medium for bait of ants

There’re many other substances, which are blended for the perfect formulation of the item, such as, waterproofing components, antimicrobial constituents, emulsifiers and also preservatives.

Does an Ant Trap Kill All Ants?

In order to choose an efficient process for killing ants, it is best to buy traps. You only need to place a bait station (filled with liquid) at the entrance way or other regions, where the ants may make their long colony. Such traps have the competence to destroy all the worker ants within few days. In fact, these innovatively designed traps allow ants to share baits for a long with other insects in the colony. Baits are not dried out with the traps, and it ensures that ants are getting the liquid continuously. The strong ingredients are effective to damage all the bugs. Remember that elimination of all the members of a colony and also the female ones is the best way to control ants.

Trap is not harmful to your pet dogs because their level of toxicity is quite low. However, the plastic or metal case may hurt your pet. Thus, it’s a good idea for you to get in touch with a center for controlling poison. It may assure you whether your pet has eaten the bait.

Most of the traps are reliable and safe, and may offer lasting outcomes with no adverse effect.

Some Common Components, Which are Used Common Ant Killers

Neonicotinoids: Neonicontinoid insect killers are applied mainly for controlling ants in indoor areas. They are available in liquid and gel form. Most of the carpenter ants may be killed with the products, which contain this substance. The level of toxicity is moderate.

Avermectin: The baits, which have Avermectin, are applicable to kill fire ant and different other kinds of ants. Moreover, they are packaged usually in granular form. However, very low dosage of Avermectin is used to make ant killer. Your skin may not absorb it deeply.

Fipronil: It is another ingredient to control ants. When ingested, it is quite toxic. And it is also found in different forms.

So, try the above methods to let ants leave your house permanently. If you cannot do it alone, you have to hire professionals for controlling ants and other pests.